General Motors unveiled the 2014 version of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups on Thursday. The trucks will be direct competitors to Ford's F-Series truck line.General Motors

PONTIAC, Mich. -- With pickups piling up on dealer lots across the country, General Motors knows that Ford and Chrysler have been taking big bites out of its sales this year.

In hopes of countering that trend, it unveiled the next version of its Chevrolet and GMC trucks Thursday, trucks that it says will be more powerful and more fuel efficient than the ones they replace.

"The 2014 Silverado is smarter and more efficient than ever before," GM North America President Mark Reuss said at a launch event near Detroit. He added that the truck will offer several new technologies "standard on every single (Chevrolet) Silverado and (GMC) Sierra, even the base V-6."

Between its GMC and Chevrolet lines, GM generally outsells Ford's F-Series pickups, but Ford has long claimed the best-seller crown because all of its trucks come under the same brand.

Ford's truck dominance has grown over the past two years that the company has been selling EcoBoost truck models, pickups with Brook Park-built twin-turbo engines. The EcoBoost engine allowed Ford to use a V-6 engine that was more powerful than the V-8 it replaced. With power and fuel-efficiency, the EcoBoost has become the most popular engine on the truck, a trend that took Ford by surprise.

The truck was so successful that Ford raised prices this year and has been running Brook Park on three daily shifts. F-Series sales are up 12 percent this year through November, following up on huge gains from last year. Silverado sales have been flat this year, despite gains for the pickup segment overall.

GM's answer is a line of trucks with engines that shut down valves while cruising on the highway, cutting down on fuel usage. The company is not following Ford's example of using turbos or Chrysler's use of technology that shuts down the engine at stop lights.

Ford hasn't been the only company taking market share from General Motors. Chrysler's Ram truck line has grown steadily this year with the launch of a new 1500 model. The truck has won major awards in recent weeks. Through November, Ram sales were up 20 percent for the year.

GM's counter is to offer more established, proven technologies with new twists that it says will allow its trucks to match the fuel economy improvements of the Ford and Chrysler models.

Cylinder deactivation has been around for more than a decade, but it has sometimes been problematic. Using the system, a V-8 or a V-6 shuts off cylinders when the truck doesn't need full power -- situations such as cruising on the highway or low-speed city driving.

Chrylser offers that system on the Ram and Honda has used it on minivans. GM engineers said they've enhanced and refined the system to boost economy while providing more power when drivers need it.

GM engineer Jeff Luke took a small swipe at Ford's strategy. Without naming the company directly, he called the EcoBoost engines "smaller-displacement engines designed for passenger cars."

Reuss added to those comments, saying that Ford and GM are taking radically different approaches to improving fuel economy. Effectively, the companies are staking out opposite positions.

Ford's engines are smaller and less powerful most of the time, getting a boost in power when the trucks need it from the turbos. GM's engines are bigger and more powerful most of the time, shrinking in size when the truck doesn't need it.

"When you're using the turbocharger in the real world environment of driving a truck, you're spinning that turbo all the time, and fuel economy suffers," Reuss said. He added that he believes many truckers will get better fuel economy out of its V-8 engines than with Ford's V-6s.

"They're different approaches, and you need to know how people are using their trucks to know which way to go," Reuss said.

Other changes to the trucks include new exterior designs that are more aerodynamic, improved interiors and creature comforts such as a rear lift gate that gently lowers itself instead of crashing down upon release.

George Peterson, an analyst with consulting firm AutoPacific, called the new GM trucks evolutionary improvements, not the radical technology revolutions from Ford and Chrysler in recent years.

"They haven't put the resources into this that Ford and Chrysler have," Peterson said. He added that the trucks could fight back on GM's market-share loss if the new vehicles hit the power and fuel economy numbers of its competitors.

GM declined to share the trucks' performance numbers, saying it will announce those closer to when the vehicles go on sale.

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